In 1990, Blevins was just 7 years old, watching the World Series between the Reds and the A's. And, though he lived in northwest Ohio, Jerry declared allegiance to Oakland, just to spite his older brother, Rob Ellis, a diehard Reds' fan. Cincinnati won the Series, but Blevins remained an A's fan.

"Rob and I grew up as athletic rivals," Jerry said. "We'd have particularly fierce games of one-on-one basketball. He was always better than me and still is, even though he's only six feet and stocky, and I'm tall and lanky. Go figure."

After Blevins graduated from tiny Arcadia High School in Ohio (39 in his graduating class), he walked on to the University of Dayton baseball team. He pitched for two years, going 7-4 in 21 games.

"Baseball was a total afterthought, it was academics," he said. "I chose Dayton purely academically and one day me and my roommate we were walking back from class and in the dorms we saw a poster for tryouts that Saturday. We both tried out and I made it," Jerry said. He majored in political science, with an eye on going to law school.

Jerry is a competitor with a calm demeanor.

In October 2007, Jerry capped the year by being named to the United States team that competed in the World Cup in Taiwan.

After the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Blevins helped his stepfather in the concrete business, pouring basements in Swanton, Ohio.

In 2008, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Jerry as the 11th-best prospect in the A's organization. They dropped him down to #20 in the Oakland farm system.

Early in 2008 spring training, one of Jerry's bullpen buddies dressed up a plastic skeleton in a green A's shirt, placed the name plate from Blevins' locker on it, and set it up on the scales in the weight room. Blevins, who has five percent body fat and is listed at 6-foot-6 and 175 pounds, ate his lunch while sitting next to the skeleton, grinning all the while at teammates' hoots of laughter as they spotted the skeleton.

When a particularly loud and heavy-set fan on the road starts bellowing insults at Blevins, the lefty walks over to him. The rest of the A's relievers stop what they're doing to watch—not that they haven't seen this unfold hundreds of times before.

"It's funny," fellow reliever Pat Neshek says, "A lot of us will get heckled, and we all handle it our own way. I'll just ignore them. Grant (Balfour) will get mad and yell at them. Jerry will go over and basically call them out. He'll try to have a conversation with them, and by the end of it, the fan likes him."

The most common insult Blevins gets is about his gangly physique.

"When someone gives me the skinny joke, I'll say, 'Good observation. You look like you could stand to mix in a salad every now and then,'" Jerry says.

"Having a conversation with them humanizes me," Blevins says. "They see me as a normal guy and think, 'He's not so bad.'" (Chris Gigley - Athletics Magazine - August 2013)

Blevins relies on a positive mental outlook to this day. "Instead of saying to myself, 'Don't throw a ball here,' I'll say, 'Throw a strike.' It's always been that positive mind-set that's propelled me to the next level," Jerry said.

WELL-ROUNDED GUY

In the clubhouse, Jerry is always positive, pulls for everyone, and is just a great guy. And he is also very intelligent.

"He's just a really smart person and values education and knowledge above being an athlete or ballplayer, Craig Stammen, a former Dayton teammate and Nationals teammate, said. “Being a ballplayer is just what he’s good at. There’s not a subject he doesn’t know even a little bit about. He can talk pitching, too. That’s probably why he’s such a good pitcher because he knows how to think the game through.”

The easy-going Blevins is an avid reader, music fan, film watcher, food critic and traveler. He shares his thoughts on a popular Twitter account, @JerryBlevins_13, which was named among the 100 most interesting by Sports Illustrated in 2015.

“I’ve always been super curious about many different things my whole life,” he said. “I guess it stems from wanting to experience everything life has to offer.”

Blevins’ intellectual curiosity developed as a kid. He played the drums in marching band in high school and still uses an electronic set in the basement at his Ohio home. He even considered attending art school instead of college because he loved drawing, painting and making sculptures.

He became an avid film watcher then, too. His mother always made time on Sundays to take him and his brother to the movies. As a minor leaguer with a lot of free time on the road, Blevins always found the local video store.

“I remember Clinton, Iowa,” said Blevins, whose favorite movie is “The Shawshank Redemption” and who loves the documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.” “They had a riverboat casino and a Blockbuster down the street. You could go and get five movies for 25 bucks. I’d get the most obscure movies and watch them.”

Jerry also reads a lot, from the news to books. His favorite genre is science fiction and fantasy. He is reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. He goes to sleep each night reading on his Kindle.

“I’m just fascinated by people that do what they do at the top level,” he said. “They take a focus of directing movies, acting, cooking, writing, whoever devotes themselves to be the best at that.”

At one point in college, Blevins even considered attending law school. He loves debating, but he chose baseball when he was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round of the 2004 draft. When Blevins was scheduled to appear at his arbitration hearing against the Nationals in mid-February, he took a particular interest as it was his chance to be the lawyer he once wanted to be.

Blevins asked his agent, Bobby Barad, and agency, Excel Sports, to present his arbitration case to him. He wanted to hear their case, dissect their argument and help refine it. He did his own research, scouring Baseball-Reference.com for comparable players and salaries. Blevins’s side won the arbitration hearing and a $2.4 million salary for the 2015 season, which was $200,000 more than the Nationals’ offer.

“It was a fun, fascinating process,” Blevins said. “There are guys in this game that run on ego or ability to think they’re the best or fluff themselves up. They want to hear other people say that. And that’s not what happens in [arbitration]. They do the opposite. And I understand what type of player I am. I’m not Mariano Rivera. I don’t have the delusions that I’ve had that kind of career. But I also know where I fit in. I’m here for a reason.” (James Wagner - Washington Post - 3/22/15)

Jerry is always the thinnest guy on his team. Asked if he eats any junk food and if so what do you like, or do you just have the world’s greatest metabolism?

Blevins said: "I lose weight by chewing food. I eat when I feel like it. If that looks like it tastes delicious, then I’ll eat it. I’ve never watched calories. I once tried to put weight on, ate 7,500 calories a day, and my metabolism just picked up.

"I can’t put weight on, and I can’t lose it," he said. "I played winter ball in Colombia, and most people got sick at first adjusting to the food. I did too and then the metabolism slowed down. Once I felt better, it picked back up. Just can’t change my weight. I watch my cholesterol and stuff but calories, no," Blevins said.

Dec. 2017: No matter what gift is waiting for you under the tree, there's no way it's as good as the one that Jerry Blevins opened. That's because the reliever just received his MLB lifetime pass. From now until forever, he and a guest can enter any regular-season baseball game they want:

Unfortunately, no amount of letters to Santa will get this into your possession. As Blevins explained to many comments on his Instagram post, it's the reward for eight years of Major League service. And that accomplishment, along with its enviable reward, is worth more than its weight in gold -- even if it is the color of the pass. (Michael Clair)

May 15-18, 2015: Jerry was on the paternity list.

When it comes time to make that special announcement of an addition to your family, you must have a good plan in place. Social media runs everything these days, whether we'd like to admit it or not, so you have to make it count.

On May 17, 2018, Jerry and his wife welcomed a baby boy to their world. Named Ellis Layne Blevins, he was introduced to everybody (including thousands of random people on the Internet who follow Blevins on his various channels) in fine form indeed. He was wrapped in a white blanket with a bow tie on his neck! "Hello world, Ellis Layne Blevins, 6 lbs. 7 ozs., 19.68 inches, 5/14/18."

A baby with a bow tie, on white linen and presented by an artful display board? That's top-tier social media-ing. (Garro - mlb.com).

July 6-9, 2018: Jerry was on the bereavement list.

TRANSACTIONS

June 2004: Blevins signed with the Cubs after they chose him in the 17th round, out of the University of Dayton. Scout Brian Williams signed him.

July 2007: The A's sent C Jason Kendall to the Cubs, acquiring Blevins and C Rob Bowen.

"I was at a charity golf outing when I got a call from our farm director (Oneri Fleita)," Blevins said. "I was excited that somebody wanted me enough to give up a perennial star like Jason Kendall.

December 11, 2013: The Nationals sent OF Billy Burns to the A's, acquiring Blevins.

January 17, 2014: The Nationals and Blevins avoided arbitration with a one-year deal worth $1.7 million.

February 11, 2015: Blevins defeated the Nationals in salary arbitration and will earn $2.4 million in 2015, instead of the team's proposed $2.2 million.

March 30, 2015: The Mets sent OF Matt den Dekker to the Nationals, acquiring Blevins.

Dec. 15, 2015: Blevins re-signed with the Mets.

Nov 3, 2016: Blevins chose free agency.

Feb 9, 2017: The Mets signed free agent Blevins.

Nov 3, 2017: The Mets picked up Blevins' $7 million option for 2018.

Oct 29, 2018: Blevins chose free agency.

Feb. 4, 2019: Blevins signed a minor league deal with the A's. The deal would guarantee the veteran pitcher $1.5 million if he's in the Majors.

Pitching

Blevins has a 87-92 mph FASTBALL with a little arm-side run. He also has a slow sweeping 70-73 mph CURVEBALL that gives lefty hitters problems with glove-side movement, and an 82-85 mph CHANGEUP with good depth and arm-side fade for retiring righthanded batters. (May 2016)

Jerry used to have hard heat, up to 98 mph. But those days are over, and he has learned quickly to use his smarts to get batters out instead of relying on power.

“A lot of guys, especially bullpen guys, are like that: They want to get as high energy and high octane as they can and go max effort the whole time,” he said. “For me, I look at the situation and try to analyze the hitter and their tendencies and read the situation and take advantage of that. I approach the game a lot different than a lot of guys do, especially bullpen guys.” (Spring 2015)

2016 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball: 62.5% of the time; Change 6.3% of the time; and Curve 31.2% of the time.

2017 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball: 45.5% of the time; Change 4.1% of the time; and Curve 50.2% of the time.

A tall lefthander, Jerry has good deception in his delivery, coming from a nice downhill angle to the plate.

Blevins is mostly a lefty-on-lefty relief specialist.

Jerry has a high strikeout rate.

Blevins says he doesn't look at his own stats, but instead he studies what hitters do with his pitches: how aggressive are they with the first pitch; how aggressive they are with runners in scoring position; what’s a good out pitch against them; what are their strengths and weaknesses—inside or away; where to put a breaking ball.

So, the difference between down 1-0 or up 0-1 is obviously a pretty important part of your game plan?

"Yeah, it is," Jerry said. "If a player is a first-pitch fastball hitter and we need a double play, I put that pitch down low enough where he puts it on the ground and, hopefully, he is aggressive and gets the double play. It is more situational."

As of the start of the 2019 season, Blevins has a career record of 29-13 with 3.52 ERA, having allowed 45 home runs and 392 hits in 463 innings.

Career Injury Report

October 15, 2010: Blevins underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip.

June 25-July 7, 2011: Jerry was on the D.L.

April 19, 2015: Blevins suffered a distal radius fracture in his left forearm when he was struck by a line drive off the bat of Marlin Dee Gordon. Blevins completed the play before leaving the game.

August 6-end of 2015 season: Blevins re-injured his pitching arm and is expected to undergo surgery that will most end his 2015 season. Blevins slipped while stepping off a curb and re-fractured the distal radius bone in his left arm. It is the same bone that Blevins fractured when he was struck by a line drive in an April 19 game.